Religious leaders follow Gandhi in fasting for peace

Hundreds of people from various religions have followed in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi, fasting in protest against violence across India.

People from different religions fasting to protest against violence across India

“This is just the beginning of our search for peace and protest against violence,” said Om Prakash Shah who organized a nine-hour fast on Nov. 4.

A Protestant bishop and a Catholic priest were among some 30 religious leaders and 300 lay people who gathered at a Mahatma Gandhi statue in Kolkata for the program.

The immediate focus of the fast was the unrest in West Bengal´s Lalgarh province, the scene of ongoing operations against Maoists who back tribal people against alleged government land grabs and police atrocities.

The Kolkata fast was held two days after the first anniversary of a Maoist landmine blast targeting West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee´s convoy at Salboni in Paschim Medinipur district. The minister was unharmed but six policemen were seriously injured and the incident triggered a state crackdown.

Since then, there have been several arrests of Maoist-supported tribal leaders and the deaths of more than 150 Communist Party of India (Marxist) supporters, according to Indian media.

Shah said the Lalgarh controversy was “only part of the bigger problem that we seek to address.”

“We want to create a climate of peace and harmony. Gandhi is the universal symbol of non-violent protest and we wished to emulate his example to protest violence,” said Shah, who heads the Centre for Peace and Progress, a Kolkata-based NGO.

Father Sunil Francis Rozario, who coordinates Calcutta Catholic archdiocese´s Dialogue and Ecumenism Committee, told UCA News the Church must reach out to people of other religions to foster positive understanding among various groups.

He said that Church people felt encouraged by the “positive steps” taken by secular groups to promote peace and harmony.

Bishop Parimi Samuel Pavana Raju of Calcutta, the retired Protestant Church of North India who joined the program, said people should not stop at fasting, but address the root causes of violence such as poverty, hunger and privation.

Peace was possible only if people have “enough to eat and live with dignity,” he said.

Abdul Aziz, secretary of West Bengal Milli Ittehad Parishad, a Muslim umbrella organization, agreed that peace is not possible without first fighting for justice.

Gandhi, who led India´s freedom struggle, fasted 17 times from 1918 to 1948, the year he was murdered by a Hindu extremist at the age of 78. His two fasts in 1924 and 1943 lasted as long as three weeks.